


Sunrise, Sunset

by lesbianneptune



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 16:32:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4270233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianneptune/pseuds/lesbianneptune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sunrise had so often been symbolic of a new hope, but on that day, it brought only the expectation of death. Senshi Civil War AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunrise, Sunset

A sunrise had so often been symbolic of a new hope.

Michiru had seen many a sunrise in her time. In her childhood, they had signalled the end of a night full of twists and turns, the relief of being bathed in light after so long submerged in the darkness. As a teenager, they had been the forbearance of morning, an alert to detangle her body from the sheets and leave the home of whichever stranger’s bed she had chosen to occupy for a few short hours of faux-comfort.

As an adult, the rising of the sun was the beginning of the countdown to a new-found morn; the luxury of watching Haruka’s eyes slowly flicker open, the promise of the day to come. The seconds, minutes and hours that Michiru spent alone caught between her nightmares and the dream her life had become, were so often spent observing her – a boundless energy finally still, an unparalleled aura contained in a painting of peace. It wasn’t often that Michiru simply had the experience of watching her, studying every curve of her face, every small movement of her fingertips as they quivered, sprightly even in sleep, every gentle movement of her chest.

It could all end soon, she told herself sharply.

On this day, the sunrise did not bring the potential of life, but the expectation of death.

Michiru propped herself up on her elbows, staring down at the body beneath her. Haruka’s eyelids fluttered slightly at the sudden movement and Michiru stroked back her hair with one hand, allowing blonde tufts to slip through her fingers as she kissed the tip of her wife’s nose.

“Mhm?”

“Good morning my sunshine,” Michiru whispered as Haruka treaded the line between consciousness and sleep.

“Mm…Michi?” she grunted, an arm flying to cover her eyes as she squinted, the sunlight now coming strongly through the window, illuminating her skin.

“It’s morning. But we don’t have to get up just yet,” Michiru lay her head back on Haruka’s chest, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist and curling into her, as though squeezing her eyes shut and holding on tight could stop the day from starting. She would stay like this, perhaps, and Haruka could never leave this bed and she could never go out into the harsh world. She would remain protected and safe as she deserved; a sheltered animal in a storm that she could never have controlled.

Michiru herself would brave the storm if she had to.

“I love you,” Haruka murmured from above her, her voice thick with the remnants of sleep, her words low and husky with honesty, “Whatever happens today, know that. I love you.”

“We don’t have to get up just yet,” Michiru repeated soothingly as a tear leaked from under Haruka’s eyelid. She shuddered involuntarily, steadfastly refusing to break, until Michiru kissed her.

And only under the security of familiar lips did she let the tears fall.

–

“Wow, Uranus! You really seem to have gotten tougher since our last little fight, you been working out or something?”

Mina’s voice was so deeply embedded in Venus’ tone that not even looking away from the familiar eyes could derail the stinging betrayal.

Their last fight had been a wrestle in the garden, provoked by a lost bet and Mina’s continuing (and unsurprising) taunting. They had bickered all day, Mina tormenting her with a smirk that would never rest, Haruka wound up more and more tightly like a coiled spring, until a misplaced punch had started it – though by the end they were laughing beneath the bruises on the surface. It had been so normal, so natural - a cure for boredom on a day when both wished for entertainment and a short release from the absence of war and fighting in their lives.

Haruka would have given anything for those days again.

“You know, they always said you were the tough one. But I know – well. Minako knows. Minako always knew you were little more than prize pet, being dragged around on a lead by that she-wolf you call a wife. You’re nothing like what they say, you know,” Venus continued and Uranus could hear Mina, Mina in the garden laughing, Mina in her arms as she goaded her through rare tears, Mina’s gentle taunts, Mina speaking at her wedding, her voice swelling with pride and affection. Mina.

But the undercurrent, the love and fondness that Haruka would look for and thrive upon, the trust and the loyalty emboldened simply through a look, through a mutual connection, was nowhere to be found. It lay destroyed beneath a thick mucus of hate and distaste, it had been poisoned by greed and a foreign entity, something that was not Mina nor Venus, a secretion that tainted her entire being.

“Minako,” Uranus said, clutching her hands together with nerves she had never before dared to show on the battlefield, “Mina.”

“That’s not who I am.”

“Mina, please. It’s me. It’s me, Haruka, and I know you’re in there, somewhere, I know you can’t be lost to us, I believe you can-“

“You’re embarrassing yourself,” Venus snarled, darting forward, clearly bored with the exchange, her sword mere centimetres from Uranus’ face in an instant. Uranus flinched, kicking her backwards onto the ground with one reflexive movement, her own sword materialising in her hand.

“I don’t want to fight you, not like this,” she said quietly, eyes downcast.

“I don’t…give a fuck…what you want…” Venus sprang forward again, punctuating each word with a thrust of her weapon. Uranus deflected each attack, backtracking with her feet, her actions quick but utterly without heart - nothing more than a defence mechanism built into her bones.

“Minako. We met at the arcade, remember? You thought I was a boy and you said you were in love with me. And you never stopped fucking ribbing me for that, I swear, the amount of times I’ve heard you recount the whole ‘but you may still have a chance’ line, I could punch you. I could punch you, if you were here. Come back. Please. Come back so I can punch you in the face for being the asshole you are,” Uranus choked on a pained laugh, but Venus merely shrugged, the words glossing over her, nothing but mere background noise.

“Are you a soldier or not, Uranus? Because I came here to fight, not play around with little girls that can’t cope with bloodied hands.”

Uranus shook her head, running one finger along the edge of her sword and taking a deep breath inwards. Looking up at her opponent, she felt the memories of the not-so-distant past flash in the corner of her eyes and bite at her conscience, tiny fragments of something that could no longer be taunting her as she steadied her resolve. The friendship that still yet burned in her chest was warm and promising, but as Venus raised her sword once again, Uranus could no longer see even an inkling of love remaining in her narrowed eyes.

And she was a soldier, no matter what form the enemy came, no matter the sacrifices that had to be made.

She launched herself forwards, dodging Venus’ initial attack with surprising difficulty, noting the increase in speed and power her new strength had given her, an evil weighted not only with brutality, but with talent and precision. She had always been skilled, even when Uranus had known her, even when they were Mina and Ruka, but the shell before her was twice the fighter now, though without the passion or the soul, or the raw devotion that had run wildly through the veins of her predecessor.

Somehow, the knowledge of her absent humanity made it easier to justify fighting her.

Uranus caught an opening and lunged, her sword only barely catching the material of her sleeve before Venus was on her again, hit after hit, the clang of metal and Uranus’ own ragged breath the only sounds to be heard, the conversation abandoned as each soldier fought a stranger swathed in the image of a friend. Uranus winced as a choice hit sliced open her arm, pain shooting up her body like hot knives, before the slow cooling of her senshi healing washed over her. She relaxed a moment too soon, however, and Venus took full advantage of her wounded state, kicking her to the ground, the space sword clattering across the floor. Uranus reached desperately, but to no avail, the thudding agony of her lacerated limb taking over as she grasped. Venus was faster, stepping down on the bloodied arm with a harsh crunch, coaxing first a grunt, then a groan and finally a scream from Uranus as she pressed her heel into the wound. Pain blinded her and images of aqua hair and soft, familiar lips faded behind her eyes as she danced on the edge of consciousness.

“Michiru…” Uranus murmured. Venus spat at the sound of the name.

“I’ll kill her next, don’t you worry. But don’t go just yet. I want to watch this. I want to watch you die.”

Uranus blinked hazily as the image of her one-time friend leaned over her, the silver glint of the space sword appearing as she twirled the weapon around slowly, before pressing the tip into the centre of her chest.

“You’ve been beaten, Uranus. Haruka.”

As the sword plunged downwards, somewhere, caught and lost in her own decisive battle, Neptune screamed.


End file.
